what is it?
The Southern Railway (SR) gave the designation 2-SL to the small fleet of electric multiple units dedicated for use on the South London lines. None of these units survived long enough in British Rail ownership to be allocated a TOPS class. In Southern Railway/Region days, they mainly spent their lives as 2-car units on the ex-LBSCR Wimbledon-West Croydon Line (now Croydon Tramway) with head code 2.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 97 years ago, in 1929.
- 410 kW is about 5 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- 38.7 m long: about 9 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 25 years (1929–1954).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1929
- in service from
- 1929
- retired
- 1954
- status
- retired
- number built
- 8
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Unknown builder
- operators
- Southern Railway, British Rail
- top speed
- —
- power
- 410 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′2′+2′2′
- formation
- DMBT+DTC
- length
- 38.7 m
- capacity
- 16 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7392882, Wikipedia: SR Class 2-SL (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.